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Lu Ping supported Ieiri Shoko with one hand and steadily stepped back onto the shrine's bluestone ground, blackened by the blaze.

The moment she escaped that suffocating space of absolute silence, Shoko could not help coughing violently several times, greedily gulping down the cool night air mixed with the bitter scent of smoke.

The two had barely regained their footing when a heavy hand landed on their shoulders.

Then, Satoru Gojo stretched out his arm and casually slung it around Lu Ping's shoulders.

"Yo, Lu Ping! You were pretty damn impressive on this mission!"

Gojo wore his trademark wicked grin. He lowered his head slightly and, through the loose sunglasses hanging on his nose, asked in a low voice that was almost scrutinizing yet brimming with gossip:

"Come clean, kid. Have you been deliberately holding back since the last mission, or did you suddenly 'wake up' just now and break through on the spot?"

To others, this might have seemed like Gojo's usual lack of seriousness. But within the godlike field of vision known as the Six Eyes, the entire battlefield was being frantically dismantled and reconstructed.

The "cursed residue" scattered through the air formed bizarre, viscous crimson trails beneath the Six Eyes' gaze.

Even the instant he had confirmed they were alive, Gojo had already guessed that Lu Ping had gained something. Yet now, standing personally amid the ruins and sensing the destructive force that had blown a Semi-Grade 1 Sorcerer's shikigami apart, the brutality and madness of this battle still exceeded his expectations.

In only two short days, this youth from a collateral branch of the Zenin Clan, a bottom-ranked Grade 2 Sorcerer famed for his meager cursed energy despite luckily awakening the Ten Shadows Technique, had given him two consecutive surprises!

What startled Gojo even more was that the portion of cursed residue belonging to the Ten Shadows Technique seemed to have undergone a fundamental, hidden mutation under the catalysis of some unknown force.

That special cursed energy residue—deep, cold, and carrying a texture that seemed to devour living things—indicated that Lu Ping's understanding of this supreme technique of the Three Great Families had clearly reached an entirely new level.

At this monstrous rate of evolution... perhaps this kid really could become the first Ten Shadows Sorcerer in centuries to completely tame that legendary "Otherworldly Divine General, Mahoraga."

Gojo's heart gave a slight leap of excitement, and he felt delighted by Lu Ping's rapid growth.

A fighting spirit, yearning to spar with a true powerhouse, flashed through his chest, but he quickly suppressed the impulse.

He knew very well that the height he and Suguru Geto currently stood at was still quite a distance ahead.

There was no point revealing that now besides placing needless pressure on the other party.

But at that moment, Gojo truly regarded the usually quiet youth as a companion to whom he could entrust his back.

I should give this kid a hand in secret. I can't let him progress too slowly on this path. He should catch up to Geto and me sooner.

"Both are possible. That is the answer."

Suguru Geto emerged from the shadows with steady steps. He nodded gently at Lu Ping and blinked his narrow eyes.

"Regardless, in this attack on the shrine, we fell completely for the enemy's carefully constructed scheme to lure the tiger away from the mountain."

He turned to look at the brightly lit outline of the distant city, his tone carrying a hint of self-mockery.

"From Jujutsu High's inland core in Shinjuku to the nearest Tokyo Port, the straight-line distance is nearly ten kilometers. And that Grade 1 Cursed Spirit responsible for delaying us at the harbor docks had a technique specialized in concealing its presence.

"Combined with the complex terrain of modern storage warehouses, container yards, and bridges spanning the sea, it truly cost us quite a bit of time."

At this point, Geto's handsome face darkened slightly. "The leak of information within Jujutsu High was far too precise. Someone in the upper ranks of the Jujutsu World definitely sold our whereabouts and mission movements to the curse users.

"Fortunately, you were here tonight, Lu Ping. As a Grade 2 Sorcerer, you contributed the most in this vicious battle. You even made Satoru and me feel somewhat ashamed."

At the words "the upper ranks leaked information," the teasing look in Gojo's eyes instantly vanished, replaced by a shadowy gloom.

"Those rotten mandarins in the upper ranks. One day, I'll stomp every one of their heads into the mud."

But the oppressive atmosphere lasted only half a second before Gojo patted Lu Ping on the back and agreed.

"Geto's right. We have you to thank tonight. You not only protected Ieiri Shoko—the medical core whose strategic value to the entire Jujutsu World is beyond estimation.

"More importantly, you protected the friend Geto and I cherish most. For that alone, I've decided to give you an irresistible gift once we get back. As for what it is, that's a secret for now. Hehe."

Ieiri Shoko, who had remained silent, rubbed her aching wrist. Her clear gaze fell upon Lu Ping's somewhat weary profile.

As someone who had personally experienced this brutal battle, no one knew better than she did what a terrible price Lu Ping had paid tonight.

That dark crimson giant beast, capable of standing toe-to-toe even with a Grade 1 Sorcerer, had grotesquely self-destructed right before her eyes.

"Rather than some secret gift, Gojo, Geto, we should jointly submit a report to Principal Yaga and force Lu Ping to rest for a while. He absolutely cannot be allowed to take any more missions for the time being."

Shoko's voice was calm but carried unquestionable resolve.

"As a shikigami user, a Ten Shadows Sorcerer's core mechanism lies in the support of their shadow familiars. Once a main combat shikigami dies, it means more than half of his fighting methods have been ripped away.

"Until he retames one or passes its abilities on to another high-grade shikigami and rebuilds combat strength appropriate to his rank, continuing to take missions is no different from courting death."

Gojo and Geto exchanged a glance, each seeing agreement in the other's eyes.

"Completely agreed."

Gojo rubbed his silver hair and declared grandly, "If the upper ranks dare shove another mission at him now, I'll smash their tea rooms and wheelchairs into pieces."

While the three top figures of Jujutsu High heatedly discussed the following disciplinary measures and vacation arrangements, Lu Ping simply stood where he was, quietly bathed in the cold moonlight.

The intense joy of surviving a disaster washed over his taut nerves again and again like a tide.

Under the nearly cheating conversion mechanism of the Three Corpses Manipulation lurking within him, that instinctive joy and relief was transforming into exceptionally pure nourishment, silently expanding the upper limit of his already drained cursed energy reserves.

Though this was not some violent breakthrough that brought a qualitative leap in strength, the sensation of clearly feeling his foundation deepen inch by inch, every step steady and solid, filled Lu Ping with extraordinary reassurance.

A Daoist scripture said, "Pursue the Dao and lessen daily; pursue learning and increase daily."

His method of cultivation, using the Three Corpses Manipulation to continuously strip away and reduce his own negative burdens and fearful emotions every day, then refine them into pure energy, perhaps in some sense coincided with the profound principles of the Great Dao.

Lu Ping silently took stock of the gains and losses from this battle.

He knew very well that, with his full explosive power unleashed, his current overall combat strength was already infinitely close to that of a Semi-Grade 1 Sorcerer. Crossing the threshold into true Grade 1 was also only a matter of time.

However, he had yet to fully understand the strange chemical reaction produced by combining the Ten Shadows Technique with his innate Three Corpses Manipulation. There were simply too many variables involved.

If they had not happened to choose this ancient shrine as the battlefield tonight—where dense civilian prayers and the negative energy of panic during the attack had accumulated over the years, giving his Three Corpses an almost inexhaustible supply of "raw materials" to provide Crimson Shadow with nearly unlimited cursed energy—

Then he would never have gained even the slightest advantage against that veteran Grade 1 Curse User.

At the same time, this brutal encounter had thoroughly exposed his most fatal weakness as a shikigami user.

That was—physical strength.

No matter how bizarre or flashy the outward manifestations of jujutsu became, their underlying core logic could never escape two words: elbow techniques, meaning the body.

In other words, using cursed energy to strengthen one's muscles to the extreme before engaging in high-intensity close combat.

Because shikigami users had to devote a considerable portion of their cursed energy and focus to maintaining and controlling shikigami, the proportion of cursed energy they could use to strengthen their own bodies was greatly reduced.

In life-or-death contests between opponents of the same rank, a sorcerer's fragile physical body often became the easiest opening for the enemy to tear through.

"But once I completely make up for the weakness of my body..." Lu Ping's eyes flickered faintly beneath the moonlight.

Those constructs of cursed energy that knew neither fear nor fatigue would become the most perfect killing machines in the world.

To achieve that balance, there were only two things he currently needed to do:

First, continue developing and use the Three Corpses to steadily expand his cursed energy limit until the total cursed energy within him could perfectly sustain both his shikigami and the terrifying consumption of strengthening his body, maintaining his strength.

Second, he had to begin hellish physical training, tempering his body's fundamental qualities until it could withstand a full-force punch from a Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer, making up for his weakness.

By the time Gojo and the other two had finally finished reviewing that tedious battle at Tokyo Port, full of containers and bridges spanning the sea, and turned the topic back to the scene before them, Lu Ping had also completed his plans.

He raised his head, met the gazes of the two men known as the strongest of the current era, and voiced the doubt that had haunted him from beginning to end.

"Since they could mobilize a Grade 1 Curse User and even possessed enough influence to precisely calculate your movements through intelligence from the upper ranks...

"Then why did they go to such great lengths to attack this dilapidated shrine, which appears to have nothing special about it besides hosting civilian festivals?"